The development and expansion of 3-dimensional (“3D”) printing technology offers many benefits. For example, using a 3D printer, a consumer may print a replacement for a machine part in minutes rather than order the part from a distant manufacturer's warehouse and wait for it to be shipped to the consumer's home. In certain instances, rendering an item with a 3D printer may even take less time than traveling to a local store and purchasing an in-stock item. 3D printing technology may be utilized in connection with a variety of applications including, without limitation, biomechanical applications (e.g., construction of human or animal organs or tissue from 3D printed scaffolding), printing of manufacturing items such as specialized chemical or biochemical reactors, distributed manufacturing, architectural prototyping, industrial and engineering design, various hobbyist activities, and/or the like.
While 3D printing technology offers a variety of benefits, it also introduces a variety of potential issues. For example, an individual may use 3D printing technology to produce a firearm, a firearm mold, an object that could be used to make a firearm, and/or components thereof and/or tools to produce the same without the usual governmental checks and/or controls that manufacturing and/or acquiring a firearm entails. A variety of other dangerous, illegal, and/or otherwise controlled items or substances and/or tools to produce the same may be similarly manufactured without conforming to applicable laws and/or policies.
Less sinister, but troubling from an economic perspective, is the potential for 3D printing technology to be used in connection with rendering protected or proprietary (e.g., patented, copyrighted, trademarked, etc.) items. For example, an item having an ornamental design protected by a design patent may be easily rendered using a 3D printer by an individual without rights to the design. 3D printing technology may allow protected designs to be infringed and/or distributed without authorization from rights holders similar to the manner in which unlicensed digital music and/or movies may be distributed through file-sharing networks. Infringement and/or unauthorized distribution of designs may allow for objects to be copied for a cost far below an amount needed by a rights holder to recoup and/or otherwise profit from their development cost.
Current intellectual property laws and protection mechanisms may be relatively effective in enforcing and/or preventing individual sources of intellectual property theft. Such laws and protection mechanisms, however, may be less effective in enforcing and/or preventing distributed or multiple sources of intellectual property theft, as may be the case with individuals utilizing 3D printing technology to produce items that infringe protected or proprietary designs.
Systems and methods disclosed herein facilitate protection, governance, management and/or enforcement of intellectual property rights in connection with 3D printing technology. In certain embodiments, the disclosed systems and methods may utilize descriptions of managed objects (e.g., objects associated with patented or copyrighted designs or the like) to identify attempts to render managed objects and/or objects similar to managed objects using a 3D printing device. As used herein, a managed object may include any object, item, substance, product, and/or the like, that may be rendered by a 3D printing device.
In certain embodiments, prior to rendering an object, a control system associated with a 3D printing device may determine whether the object is the same and/or similar to a known managed object. To determine whether the object is the same and/or similar to a known managed object, the control system and/or a related system may compare information associated with the object with information describing various known managed objects. In certain embodiments, such a comparison may include comparing and/or otherwise analyzing an objects shape, material, composition, function, and/or the like relative to a known managed object. A variety of techniques may be utilized to compare objects with known managed objects in connection with the disclosed embodiments including, without limitation, 3D pixel iterative refinement and/or 3D fractal refinement. The terms iterative or iteratively are used herein to refer broadly to stepwise or repeated processes, and not in a strict mathematical sense.
If it is determined that an object is not the same or sufficiently similar to a known managed object, the control system may allow the 3D printing device to proceed with rendering the object. If it is determined that an object is the same or sufficiently similar to a known managed object, the control system may identify and enforce one or more articulated policies associated with the known managed object. In certain embodiments, such a policy may prevent rendering of the object by the 3D printing device. In further embodiments, a policy may articulate that certain conditions be met prior to allowing rendering of an object (e.g., purchasing rights associated with a managed object, registration with a rights holder, demonstrating authorization to render a managed object, etc.). In yet further embodiments, a policy may articulate that certain actions be performed in connection with rendering an object (e.g., notifying a rights holder, law enforcement, and/or governmental authorities, etc.). It will be appreciated that a variety of other types of policies may be articulated, and that any type of policy may be utilized in connection with the disclosed embodiments.
By ensuring that objects that are the same and/or similar to known managed objects are identified in connection with object rendering activities, unauthorized production of the managed objects using 3D printing technology may be mitigated. Moreover, by preventing the unauthorized rendering of certain dangerous, illegal, and/or otherwise controlled objects or substances and enabling notifications to be sent to authorities of attempts to render such objects or substances, the production and/or distribution of controlled objects and substances may be reduced.